Happy Update Sunday, lovelies! Just a quick note, as some of you may be wondering about the lack of an update last scheduled update Sunday. The chapter just wasn't ready, and as we're nearing the end, I have no intentions to rush this story just to get to the end. I want to give you good quality chapters that I'm happy with. Soo... should an update/chapter not be ready, I will keep to the schedule of every other Sunday. Which means, if an update gets skipped because the chapter wasn't ready, it will be posted on an official Update Sunday day whenever it is ready. I hope to not have too many skipped updates, but again, I want good chapters, not rushed content just to meet a deadline.

With that being said, please enjoy!

Chapter 46

The early mornings were still cold, frost covering the ground, until the warm summer sun rose high enough in the sky to provide just a touch of warmth to the island. Despite the sun's heat during the day, the winds off the seas were still cool, the winter island warming only enough to stave off the ice and snow. After the departure of the pirate crews that temporarily found safe haven within the stone ruins, Ashina slowly began to find her routine and place within the Revolution again.

Dragon, like Pops, wasn't keen on sending her away on any missions, ordering instead for her to remain on Baltigo and assist with strategy and organization, as well as analyzing the information discovered by those on the seas of Blues. She still worked with Sabo to distribute orders and assignments to all members of their army. Ace's involvement was less. He spent his days training, either by himself or with a partner, working hard to master his devil fruit and haki. It was an ongoing effort, but over the course of the months he had mastered a new ability. It wasn't a tactical move, but it entertained Bo, which never failed to bring a smile to Ace's face.

The fire cat quickly pranced around in a circle midair, avoiding little Bo's playful swat. The lithe creature glowed, burning with the reddish orange flames of Ace's devil fruit. The creature resembled Kotatsu, but much smaller, closer to a normal housecat. It took a bit of concentration on Ace's part, but the cat morphed into a floating ball of flames before taking the form of a miniature bird.

Robin tittered, looking up from her book, as the bird zipped past her head. Ace controlled the bird, making it swoop near Bo once more, just out of reach, before it flitted back to float in front of Robin. She reached out one hand, holding it close to the fiery bird and testing the heat of the flames.

"Ace-san," Robin said, a thoughtful lilt to her voice, as she watched the bird fly back to whirl over Bo's head, still just out of reach due to Ace's fear that Bo would burn himself if he touched the fiery creautre. "Have you ever tried to make your flames hotter?"

"Huh?" Ace looked up at her and away from where he was watching Bo from the corner of his eye. The bird disappeared in a whirl of fire that was gone in an instant. Bo squealed at the loss of the flames, clapping his hands together while babbling excitedly.

"Have you ever tried to make them hotter? Don't misunderstand me, your flames are as hot as a bonfire, maybe even a touch hotter, but this isn't as hot as fire can be."

Ace cocked a brow and shrugged one shoulder. He glanced over to Bo, who was crawling toward the couch, and then back to Robin. "I'm not really sure I follow you, Robin."

She smiled at him, sliding the bookmark into place before closing the book in her hands. She set the book on the couch cushion beside her and then leveled him with a friendly gaze. "Oxygen feeds fire. It can make it spread, but it can also make it hotter. If I had to guess, I'd say your flames are somewhere around six hundred degrees, but flames can reach temperatures near the three thousand mark. Your powers would be much more destructive if you could make the flames hotter."

"Oh." Ace scratched the back of his head. "You know, I've never tried that before. I've, um, I've raised my internal temperature before, not very high, but Ashina likes the warmth. But, I've never tried to make the ones I create outside of my body hotter."

"You should tr-" Robin's response was cut off at Bo's shriek. One hand held tightly to the edge of the couch cushion, while the other grasped hold of the book. He grunted with effort, but was unable to lift Robin's heavy novel. He grumbled in frustration and then looked up to Robin.

"Bi Bin! Uh."

Ace chuckled at Bo's speech. He was a smart boy, growing and learning every day, his vocabulary ever expanding. He enjoyed listening to Robin read aloud. Bo wasn't picky about the genre, and enjoyed listening to anything she was reading in the vast library, although Ace caught her a few times reading a children's book to him, like Ashina did at night.

"Uh!" he repeated, louder, as he scrunched up his nose in frustration and raised one arm toward her while still trying to lift the book with his other. While Bo's pronunciations were almost always wrong, he made it clear what he wanted, most of the time.

Robin obliged the boy's desire to be picked up, setting him on her lap and then picking up the book. Bo eagerly grabbed hold of the book, and clumsily tried to open the thick cover. Robin helped him with a smile and then flipped open to her bookmark. The curved marker was made of thin metal with a little charm on the end, and Bo grasped hold of it, quickly bringing it to his mouth.

"You can't chew on that, silly," Robin cooed, plucking the bookmark from his chubby hands and placing it on the table beside her, ignoring his fussy grumbles. "How about we start where I left off, hmm?"

Ace listened to her start reading as he thought about what she said. Making his fire hotter by raising the temperature had never crossed his mind before. The flames were destructive as they were, so he utilized them without ever giving a thought to the possibility that they could be different than how they'd always been since he ate his fruit.. But he needed to get stronger, and hotter flames would be a step in the right direction.

Hopping up from the floor, Ace waved to Robin as he headed for the door. She lifted her eyes from the pages, momentarily pausing her read aloud to smile at him, before she focused on the pages and picked up where she left off.

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Ashina knew where she would find him. On the far side of the island, standing on the rocking shore practicing his most destructive moves, working to make them more, better, and maybe even something new. He'd been at it for days, ever since Robin sparked his imagination and determination, only taking breaks when Sabo managed to drag him inside, or the echoes of Bo's laughter reached him and broke his concentration.

Summersaulting from the boulder she stood on, Ashina bounced from one rock to another as she picked her way down to the rocky shorefront. His observation haki was growing stronger too, as she was no longer able to sneak up on him. Instead, he turned to greet her, the flame in his hand dying as a bright smile stretched across his face.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked. "Did Sabo send you to drag me back inside again?"

Ashina chuckled, but shook her head. "You do need to eat and rest you know, but no, I haven't come to drag you kicking and screaming inside. I mainly came to see your progress. Call me curious."

Ace scratched the back of his head and frowned. "Not much progress to see, Missus." He kicked a small rock away, frustration washing over him. "It's not working the way I want. I can make the fireball without even thinking about it, but I can't make it hotter, or compress it smaller, or even -"

"Maybe you're not meant to do that then. Have you only tried those tricks? What about a new move? Or even just trying to make the little flame in your palm hotter?"

Ace raised a brow and Ashina smirked at him, shrugging. "But what do I know, I don't have a Devil Fruit. It'd have been a good question to ask Marco though."

"No. He's a zoan type. Besides, his blue flames aren't hot the way normal fire would be. He can't help me with my logia fruit. Luffy maybe since he's had his fruit for so long, but I just… it seems so simple in my mind."

"If it was easy everyone could do it," Ashina smarted back, earning her a playful glare from Ace. "Mama used to say that. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I gave her the same face you just pulled."

Ashina hopped over the rocks, closing the distance between them, and took both of his hands in hers. She tugged herself closer and reached up on her tiptoes to press a quick kiss to his mouth. "Don't give up, Flame Boy. But maybe start over? Try something you haven't tried before."

Ashina let him go, but before she could dance away from him, his arms came around her. "Not so fast, Missus," Ace purred in her ear. His lips pressed just below her ear, finding that tender spot easily. He nipped her jaw playfully and then pulled away. "Thank you for the pep talk."

"Anytime, Flame Boy. But what about a break instead? Bo is down for a nap, Robin volunteered to watch him should he wake up before I get back. Want to spar?"

Ace chuckled lowly, eyeing her as she moved back, jumping from rock to rock like the lithe, deadly, woman he knew her to be. As he watched her, his mind drifted to a few weeks back when he watched her bounce from rock to rock facing a different opponent.

Marco folded his arms across his chest, and raised a brow in response to Ashina's playful boasting. "Yoi, don't get cocky, Red."

"Oh yeah?" she smarted back, turning her head to grin at Marco.

He kept up his neutral expression and shrugged. "I'll spar with you."

It was Ashina's turn to arch a delicate brow as she smirked at him. "You want to spar with me on my home turf?" She plucked a kunai from her pouch, spinning it around on one finger before catching it, resting the blade parallel to her forearm.

"Sure. I've kicked your ass once before in a real fight. Turf isn't going to matter."

Thatch snorted then, shaking his head at Marco. "Good luck, buddy."

Ace remembered Marco shifting into his phoenix form, having to fly away from her attack, only for her to launch between rocks until she vaulted herself into the air, just high enough to kick him back down to the ground with a well-placed blow. He grinned at Ashina, eyes scanning from her head to her toes, she was anticipating his answer, she wanted to fight.

"And get my ass handed to me, like you did Marco a few weeks ago? You're lucky. I like sparing with you just enough to say yes."

"Good." The moment the word passed her lips she was moving, launching herself forward.

Ace barely had time to dodge her blow before he was blocking the next one. Ashina moved around the landscape seemingly effortlessly, using the rocks to her advantage as they sparred. She was agile, graceful, and lethal. She countered his blow with kick, before sending herself gracefully arching over him. He spun around just in time to dodge the kick she aimed at his head.

"Hey now, Missus," he teased, "That was close."

"You should've been faster," she smarted back. "Or train that haki better and learn how to dodge armament haki with your logia. I swear Ace, you're the only Logia user in the entire Line that doesn't utilize your powers that way."

"I've never needed to," he shot back, retaliating with a strong kick that she ducked under, coming up to jab him in the side with her elbow.

Ace grunted as Ashina fired back, "That's a shit excuse if I ever heard one, and you could have let me pass through your body just now if you knew how."

Before she could flit away from him, Ace wrapped his strong arms around her, trapping her own arms against her sides. He pulled her flush to his chest and bent his head to press his lips near her ear.

"You offering to train me then?" he whispered huskily.

Ashina snorted, wiggling in his arms and trying to break free. "I don't think we're talking about the same kind of training now are we?"

His chuckle was low and deep as his nose brushed against the shell of her ear. Ace pressed a tender kiss to the soft spot beneath her ear and then teasingly nipped the lobe. "Of course we are. But seriously," he said, relaxing his hold on her as she gave up fighting for freedom. "How do you even train for that?"

Ashina snorted again as she twisted around in his arms to face him. "By getting your ass kicked until you get it right, but really, you should ask Sabo. He has the best armament haki here. He can train with you and kick your ass all at the same time."

"You'd like watching that wouldn't you?" he teased.

"I've always liked watching you training, especially when you used to do it shirtless."

It was Ace's turn to snort at her words. "Maybe I'll have to do some shirtless training then. Come on, Missus, it's too cold out here for what kind of training I have in mind."

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Ace stared at the flame that flickered in the palm of his hand. Robin said oxygen fueled the flames, that they could become white hot, or even blue like Marco's. Ashina had said to try something new. Ace closed his eyes and concentrated on raising his own internal temperature, searching for that familiar warmth that flowed through his very being, and stoking it.

Concentrating, he let the heat flow into the flame in his palm. When he opened his eyes, Ace smirked, for the flickering flame that normally glowed an orangish-red was now a pale yellow, burning brighter, hotter, in his hand. It flickered, shifting from the yellow back to a deeper orange. Ace took a deep breath and focused on his powers, eyes locked on his fiery hand. The flame flickered again, dancing in the air, before it steadied into a still, glowing yellow flame.

Giddy with success, Ace concentrated on morphing the flame into the fiery feline that Bo liked to watch run through the air and then making it larger. It took a touch of concentration, but the creature grew from a housecat size to almost as large as a lynx. A thought crossed his mind and Ace called the creature back with a flick of his fingers, the cat pouncing into his outstretched hand and compressing back into a ball of flames.

"Something new," he mused. The animal was already new, and while the flames could burn someone, Ace hadn't tried to actually use the new ability with the intention to harm. Ace let the ball of fire go out as he heard the echoes of Tenshin and Yukichi's whooping as they ran through the rocky training course Thatch and Sabo set up for the boys.

Tenshin had grown especially fond of the Revolutionary Army, here he found the ability to train and become stronger, and the ability to learn and grow. He was young still, soon to be fifteen, but with the attack on Thatch and the loss of Pops, maturity came early for him. Yukichi, at only a year younger, was getting stronger, but he reminded Ace more of Luffy, in his carefree attitude and childlike tendencies for mischief and fun.

Ace cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Oi! Come here you two knuckleheads, if you want some real training!"

It took only seconds before their rowdy shouts and sounds of scuffling grew louder. Tenshin appeared first, springing off a tall boulder, arching through the air before he tucked into a flip and landed on his feet on the ground, crouching for an instant before he righted. Yukichi came skidding to a stop, kicking up pale dust from the broken and worn rocks.

"Show off. I saw what you did there, you could have just run here like a normal person."

"Chief would have done it that way," Tenshin shot back.

"Whatever." Yukichi rolled his eyes and then looked at Ace. "You called for us, Commander Ace?"

"He's not a Commander anymore, dummy."

Ace chuckled, putting a calming hand on Yukichi's head as he tried to lunge for the taller boy. "Easy. It's okay. You can still call me Commander. Old habits die hard and all that shit." Ace ruffled Yukichi's hair and then dropped his hand. "I called you two over since I heard you running the course, thought you might want to try something with more of a challenge. It would also be helping me with my training," Ace threw in. He knew the extra bit wasn't needed, the boys jumped on every chance they could to train, they were especially eager to train and fight with the 'big boys' instead of being just the student.

"Sure!"

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

"Wait," Tenshin said with a touch of hesitation. "What are we going to be doing?"

Ace chuckled, grinning at the two boys. "You're going to run, dodge, whatever you need to do to keep away from this."

Before either boy could ask what Ace was talking about, he brought to life the fiery feline and let it bound from his hand to stand next to him.

"Woah! That's bigger than the one you make for Bo!" Yukichi exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement and wonder.

"That's cool, sir, uh, but what happens if we can't dodge?"

Ace shrugged. "We'll take a visit to see Miss Jora, and we'll probably both be fussed at. So, make sure you dodge." When the boys shared a questionable look, Ace added. "I'm really only going to try to chase you, not attack you with it. I want to test it out as an offensive move, not just something fun for Bo to chase around."

Yukichi shrugged. "Let's do it, then. Count of three?"

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Jora dabbed the pink salve over the wound on Yukichi's forearm, occasionally shooting daggers at Ace, who hovered nearby.

"You should have seen it Miss Jora! It was so cool! He can manipulate the fire and make it chase after an opponent and even attack if needed."

Jora hummed. "Maybe he should have manipulated the fire better so that you didn't end up with a burn wound."

She shot a glare over Yukichi's head, directed at Ace, who gave a sheepish smile and scratched at the back of his head.

"It's not a bad burn it is?"

"Superficial mostly. No major damage, but it will hurt for a week or so. Honestly Ace, what possessed you to use the boys as target practice?"

Before Ace could respond, Yukichi jumped to his defense. "It's wasn't target practice, Miss Jora! Ace wanted to train and Tenshin and I agreed to help so we could get some better training in. It was an accident is all. I probably shouldn't have been trying to show off either, and then Commander Ace wouldn't have had to pull back the fire cat at the last minute. I'm fine though, promise, it only hur- ouch!"

Jora hid her smile by ducking her head to finish tying off the bandage that she secured around Yukichi's hand.

The teenager frowned, but then twisted around to grin at Ace, as he held up his bandaged hand. "I'll be good as new in no time, Commander! And then we can train again."

Ace grinned, a smile that disappeared into a serious expression under Jora's intense gaze. "Yeah, maybe buddy, but let's take it easy for now, huh?"

"But it's my first battle scar! I think Pops would be proud, don't you? I didn't run away or even cry."

Tenshin rolled his eyes, muttering, "It wasn't even a real battle."

Ace patted the boy's shoulder, glancing at Jora before he looked at Yukichi and Tenshin, who stood beside his friend. "I think you shouldn't be so proud of battle scars. Pops would be proud that you are trying to get stronger, not that you got hurt in practice. Scars don't make a man stronger. Learning a lesson does." He looked at both boys before cracking a small smile. "Now, you two run off to the kitchens. I'm sure Thatch could use some help with dinner prep."

As soon as the pair was gone, Ace turned around to look at Jora who was scribbling some notes in the file she kept for each boy.

"So," he said sheepishly. "How much trouble am I really in?"

Jora snorted. "Did no one ever teach you not to play with fire?" She waiting a beat, glancing up to see Ace struggling with a response and chuckled. "None is the answer to your question. I just wanted to put on a good show for the boys. Those two get injured more than any other boys I've ever met. Walking disasters those two. The first few weeks they helped in the kitchens I was seeing them all the time for various burns, cuts, and other injuries. I let Thatch have it the first couple of times until I witnessed first-hand the foolishness those two boys can get into."

"I didn't mean for him to get burned."

"I know you didn't, Ace. And don't beat yourself up over it. You're training a new skill with your devil fruit powers and the boys were eager to help. Yukichi's hand will be fine in no time at all. He probably won't even have a scar."

"That's good. Thanks, Jora."

Ace turned to leave the infirmary, but Jora stopped him. "Hey, Ace."

"Yeah?" he asked, twisting partially back around.

"Keep training with them. You'll make all three of you stronger. Don't let this incident stop you."

Ace cracked a half smile and nodded his head. "Yes, Miss Jora."

He ducked, barely dodging the pen she threw at him, and laughed as he left the room, calling over his shoulder. "See you later, Miss Jora!"

"Shut it, Fire Fist!"